Lady Tigers Release 2018-19 Non-Conference Schedule

BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s basketball team will be spending a lot of time in the friendly confines of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to start the season. After hosting only four non-conference games in the PMAC last year, the Lady Tigers will welcome nine opponents to Baton Rouge in 2018-19. The Southeastern Conference portion of the schedule will be released at a later date.

LSU will host an exhibition contest against Loyola (New Orleans) on Friday, Nov. 2, before the official season opener against Sam Houston State on Tuesday, Nov. 6. New NCAA rules in play this year allow teams to begin the season on the Tuesday prior to the second Friday of November. The Lady Tigers are taking advantage of the opportunity and are partnering with the men’s team for a PMAC doubleheader on opening night.

“We are excited about the competitive schedule we have put together for the 2018-19 season,” said LSU head women’s basketball coach Nikki Fargas. “There are several teams that made the NCAA Tournament and the others will challenge us in preparation for SEC play.”

The Lady Tigers will host Northern Colorado (Nov. 11), Tulane (Nov. 15), Little Rock (Nov. 25) and Kansas (Nov. 29) to close out the month of November. The Jayhawks come to town as part of the 10-game SEC/Big 12 Challenge. UNC, making its first appearance, and Little Rock advanced to the NCAA Tournament in March, representing the Big Sky and Sun Belt conferences.

After a break for finals, play resumes on Tuesday, Dec. 11 with McNeese in town for a mid-day game. Thousands of Baton Rouge school children will be the special guests that day in the PMAC. Nicholls, also making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018, will be the final home opponent before the holiday break on Dec. 18. LSU will host Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 27) and USF (Dec. 30) in the final warm ups before SEC play begins. The Lady Tigers opened last season at USF and the Bulls ended their season in the NCAA Tournament.

LSU will make only three road trips in the non-conference portion of the season with excursions to Florida State (Nov. 18), Rutgers (Dec. 15) and UL Lafayette (Dec. 20). The Seminoles are the fifth LSU non-conference opponent to make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament last year.

In total LSU will host 17 regular season games in the PMAC in 2018-19, five more contests than last season when the Lady Tigers finished 11-1 in Baton Rouge.

“With only one loss in the PMAC last season, we will again need the support of our amazing fans,” said Fargas. “The non-conference home schedule is loaded with great, competitive match-ups. We are thrilled for our fans to come out and support our Lady Tigers!

SEC play will open on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. LSU will host Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas A&M at the PMAC in 2018-19. Fans can request season tickets at LSUsports.net/tickets.

The 2019 SEC Tournament is set for March 6-10 in Greenville, South Carolina. NCAA Tournament action begins on March 22 and culminates at the Women’s Final Four in Tampa, Florida, on April 5 and 7.